Lakeside labors to feed the hungry

Lakeside Elementary School recently completed its eighth annual Hunger Can’t Weight food drive with stunning success. The third to fifth grade classes collected more food this year than in any other year to date.

In total, this year the kids collected 2,634 pounds of food which they
distributed to the Honesdale Emergency Food Pantry. This food pantry
is entirely dependent on community donations to provide its services,
and so the efforts of Lakeside students are always a welcome
contribution.

Combined
with the seven years prior, Lakeside Elementary has a running total of
18,161 pounds of food which its students have given to charity.

Beginning on November 1st, “Hunger Can’t Weight” ran all month long, allowing plenty of time for the children to accumulate their donations for the year.

To help generate the impetus of competition, winning classes from each
grade were promised a movie day which will take place on Friday,
December 16th. The real spirit of helping the less fortunate, however,
is never far from thought.

To really get the kids involved, Lakeside teachers gathered them
together every week to weigh what was collected so far. The visual and
numerical confirmations of progress goad the kids on and give them a
tangible sense of the effect they’re having.

According to drive director and third grade teacher Karen Martin, “It
is truly heartwarming to see kids rolling small suitcases filled with
food and Moms and Dads dropping cases of canned goods at the office.”

Out of all the participants this year, the three classes who won
were: Erin Kilker’s third grade, Lorissa Tarashuck’s fourth grade, and
Deborah Diehl’s fifth grade.

As the towers of canned goods grew ever larger, quickly exceeding the
physical capabilities of elementary students to handle, Karen employed
Julia Cheripko and the Honesdale High School Interact Club, a junior
version of the Rotary Club known for numerous community outreach projects, to help pack and deliver the donated food to the pantry.

For all the help and hard work that went into making this year’s food
drive successful, Karen would like to thank Lakeside principal Sandy
Rickard, Lakeside custodial staff Jim Farrell and Ray Highhouse, and all
the students and teachers who took time out of their day to be a part
of the program.

She
would also like to extend a thanks to Gina Pritchard from Mommy and Me
who donated a truck to transport the supplies to and fro, and to Sharon
Herzog, the food pantry representative, for helping get all the
scheduling in order.